The Walking Dead
by Hellsleprechaun
Summary: Kol is back from the dead and now he has to deal with a protective Elijah, a hounding Rebekah and Klaus seemingly ignoring his existence.


**I do not own the vampire diaries, it belongs to L.J Smith and the CW.**

**This is set after Silas rises and (presumably) the dead rise with him. I hope that Kol gets to see his family at least one last time, or better, comes back to life.**

Rising from the dead was an... odd experience, to say the least, almost as odd as dying itself, although a lot less painful. One minute he was in the Gilbert's kitchen, the next he was running around with a flaming stake in his heart- it had not been a good night. Then he had been on the other side- a weird place, it was like being in the real word, he could travel around and see what was going on, but nobody could see or hear him. That had not been pleasant either; he had seen his brothers and sister distraught over his death and been unable to do anything to help them, or even to let them know that he was still there.

Then, after days, or maybe weeks, it was hard to sense the passing of time on the other side, something changed. There was a strange and not entirely agreeable sensation of being pulled, almost as though he were being sucked into a vacuum. Then he had woken up in a delirious state, convinced that he was trapped in a charred shell of a body and was crawling out of his own grave- _oh wait, no, that actually happened._ It had taken hours, but his body began to heal itself, his skin stopped flaking off and leaving greasy stains of ash everywhere, his hair grew back and he could see through his eyes again. Needless to say the good people of Mystic Falls had been terrified to see a burned corpse (even a healing burned corpse) wandering through the streets of the town.

He had still not being properly reformed when he burst into Klaus's mansion, where he had been staying with Elijah and Rebekah. His sister had let out a loud scream when she saw him, and he felt an almost crushing wave of dejection- even his own sister was horrified at the sight of him, until she ran towards him and grabbed his hands in a bone-breaking grip.

"Kol? Is it really you?" She asked, her eyes wide with desperate hope.

He rolled his eyes and laughed once with relief, "who else would be crazy enough to come back to this family?"

She laughed with him and threw her arms around him. "ow, ow, I think my skin is still trying to de-barbecue itself."

She drew back from him slightly and grimaced, "ew, Kol, ew." But that didn't stop her from hugging him again, more gently this time.

Elijah had been equally delighted to see him, Kol wasn't sure that Elijah had ever actually hugged him before.

He was not sure what he had expected from Niklaus after watching him mourn for him and scream promises to avenge his death- a hug perhaps? A handshake? An _I'm_ _so glad you're back from the dead? _Instead Niklaus had stared at him for a long moment, nodded once and turned around to leave the room. It had been three weeks since then and Klaus had barely spoken more than ten words to him, if anything he seemed to avoid his presence as much as possible.

They had left Mystic Falls in a hurry. Kol was not the only dead person to have risen, seemingly almost every supernatural person who had died in Mystic Falls had risen again- and that was a large, large number. As the Salvatores and company were responsible for most of them, they were determined to send them all back- the little Bennett witch spouted some nonsense about _restoring the balance of nature, _despite the fact that they were the ones who raised Silas in the first place and hadn't cared so very much then.

Kol's siblings had decided unanimously, and without discussion, that they were not going to let that happen to him- they had left Mystic Falls, leaving their old house and a good deal of their possessions behind them, taking only what held sentimental value.

Kol liked their new home- it was a large house, although not as over the top as their last one had been, it had good television reception and comfortable furniture. It was most fortunate that Kol appreciated their house, as it seemed that Elijah and Rebekah were determined to keep him inside it at all costs. He was surprised that they hadn't just drained him of blood and chained him to the sofa; it would have taken much less effort than their constant hounding of him must have taken.

He had expected to be rugby tackled and pinned to the ground when he told them that he was going outside to find a bar. Elijah looked as though he was tempted to do just that, but managed to restrain himself, accepting that he couldn't refuse to allow Kol outside of their home for the rest of eternity, and Rebekah insisted on coming with him, which he supposed he didn't really mind. His gaze fell to Nik, he half hoped that his hybrid brother would offer to come with them- he didn't and Kol told himself that he didn't care.

At the bar he and Bekah had a fun time- they forgot about all the terrible things that had happened between them lately, they laughed and joked- it felt just like the old days, when their family was less broken.

He got up from the bar stool he had been sitting on and made to walk away, when his sister grasped his arm tightly.

"What?" He demanded.

"Where are you going?" She questioned.

"To the bathroom, and no, you can't come with me- the other men wouldn't like it." He smiled jokingly.

"Can you not wait until we get home?" She wondered.

"No, Rebekah, I need to use the toilet. Either you let go of my arm, or I go here and get us both thrown out."

"It wouldn't be the first time." She pointed out, although she released her iron grip on him. He grinned at the memories her comment brought and walked towards the bar's probably unsanitary bathroom.

When he re-entered the bar room, Rebekah was standing outside the door. "What is the matter with you, Bekah?" He enquired softly.

"Nothing." She snapped irritably and strutted back towards their seats, he rolled his eyes- _sisters! Do they have to be so dramatic?_

"Come on, sister. I know you; you can't tell me that nothing is the matter. You were just waiting for me outside the men's toilets at some grotty bar. No offense, mate." He tacked on, when he saw the bar owner throw him a dirt look.

She sighed in defeat, "you can make fun of me all you want, but I don't want to lose you again- none of us do. I know that you feel like the odd man out with the three of us sometimes, but we do love you." She told him sincerely, picking up his hand and holding it in hers.

"I know that you and Elijah love me, Bekah, you don't need to try and prove it by following me into the toilet" he mocked lightly. "I'm your big brother remember, I'm supposed to be the one protecting you."

She rolled her eyes, but chuckled, "come on, Kol, we both know that it's never been that way between us. You've always needed your little sister to beat up girls who were mean to you," she teased.

He snorted as he remembered a soaking wet teenage girl Rebekah had pushed into the river on his behalf when they were children.

Rebekah broke him out of his fond reminiscing. "He loves you too, you know, even if he'd rather cut off his own arm than admit it."

He sobered at the mention of Klaus, "then why has he made every possible effort to stay as far from me as possible. He hasn't even told me that he's glad I'm back." He had not intended for his tone to sound as rejected and hurt as it did.

"Have you met Nik? He's not what you'd call an emotionally open guy." She tried to joke, when it fell flat she continued. "He's scared."

"Of what? I didn't realise our brother had a phobia of the undead." He replied sarcastically.

"Mother came back proclaiming love and forgiveness and then she tried to kill us all-"

"I'm not like _her_! I'm not going to betray you."

"Just listen." She insisted, "mother lied to us and now she's dead again, and all of the others who rose have been sent back to who knows where for the rest of eternity. The point I'm trying to make is that all of our previous experiences of the dead returning have ended badly. He's scared that we're going to lose you again." She explained, and watched Kol, imploring him to try and understand Niklaus's reasons for avoiding him.

"He could have said that to me. You and Elijah must feel the same way and you both still manage to speak to me."

"You know what he's like Kol- he's a drama queen, I really don't know where he gets it from."

Kol raised his eyebrows but decided two deaths were enough for anyone and, with great difficult, kept his mouth shut.

They got home in the early hours of the morning- both laughing hysterically at Kol doing an awful impression of batman.

"I take it you two had a pleasant evening?" Elijah stated with raised eyebrows and an amused smirk.

"It was just wonderful, Elijah. Rebekah tried to follow me into the men's room- harlot!" He sniggered, as she slapped him on the arm playfully.

Klaus, who had been reading a book, got to his feet and tried to edge his way past his drunk younger siblings to get to the stairs, when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around him tightly.

"Love you, Nik, I know you're glad I'm not dead, even though you're too emotionally constipated to admit it." Kol giggled.

Although Klaus would vehemently deny it later, he wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged him for a second before letting go and taunting him about his drunken state.

**The end.**

**I just had to write this because I like to think that the originals will get to see Kol again (although the vampire diaries does seem to be against happiness of all kinds). I think that, even though Elijah is quite stoic, both he and Rebekah would find it much easier to tell Kol that they love him than Klaus would. I'm not sure what genre this was even supposed to be, but I just needed to write it.**

**I think that Kol was a bit OOC, but hey, he had just come back from the dead!**

**Please review.**


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